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Sepp Holzinger
Josef Vinzenz Holzinger, called Sepp, (*June 30, 3554) is a Hulstrian politician of the Liberale Volkspartei who served as Minister of Trade and Industry for 16 consecutive years. He is the son of Hans Holzinger, a former prominent LVP politician. Life Holzinger grew up in Syakusen, contrary to his father, whose world view was shaped by rural life and tradition. He thus developed a cosmopolitan and progressive outlook early in his life. From 3519 to 3529, he studied history and economics, and earned a PhD in the latter. He was Assistant Professor of Economic Thought at the Handelsakademie Syakusen from 3530 to 3535, then moved to Kien where he taught economic history and philosophy at various colleges. He got involved into politics late in his life in 3601, when he was already 47. Banking on his father's popularity, he ran for Mayor of his home town Syakusen, but lost to the HDV candidate. He then served as Deputy Mayor for four years, and as Member of the Landtag for eight years. In Syakusen, he was in charge of urban innovation, science and infrastructure. Contrary to most LVP politicians, he had no problems with "public investment" for infrastructural purposes, and spent considerable sums on urban development. He was elected to the Imperial Diet in 3616, and shortly thereafter sworn in as Minister of Trade and Industry in the government of Janna Goddestreu. In that capacity, he established a reputation as a moderate, supporting economic liberalism but supporting state regulation when he saw it as helpful for competition. His economic ideas were based on Ordoliberalismus, an economic concept that argues for a strong state which does not intervene much in market proceedings, but strongly regulates its framework to ensure that competition remains as vibrant as possible, which includes government action against cartelization, concerted behavior of large corporations, or trade union influence through closed shops and the like. Measures he helped to pass were a recreational drug ban (exempting cannabis) and looser regulations for cafés regarding smoking. He opposed completely privatizing the national grid and legalizing open shops, but also proposed privatizing all media. After the 3626 general election and the ensuing snap poll in 3628, Holzinger was briefly mentioned as a compromise candidate for the office of Staatsminister instead of the more controversial Ariane von Gehrfeld. While this triggered von Gehrfeld's resignation and made Holzinger leader of the LVP's cabinet negotiation team, he declined to run for party Chairman, a position which was subsequently won by Ludwig Kirchgasser, Minister-President of Mitrania. Shortly before LVP, HDV and the left-wing Solidarity party agreed on a Grand Septembrist coalition in 3632, Holzinger announced that he would resign from politics after the next general election, then aged 77. As his last measure as Economics Minister, he proposed a bill that took decision over the legitimacy of strikes away from government and transferred it to the courts. Additionally, it would lift the ban on positive discrimination in private enterprise. The bill received rare cross-party support from HDV, LVP and Solidarity. Category:Politics of Hulstria & Gao-Soto Category:Hulstrian and Gao-Soton people